Provincial authorities would like the airport to be built in Bao Yen district, about 100 kilometers away from Sa Pa, for both civilian and military purposes. They estimated investment for the airport at over VND5.7 trillion ($246 million), not including military equipment. The project will comprise of two phases. In the first phase, an airport with a capacity of 560,000 passengers and 600 tons of goods a year will be built by 2020. With a budget of 4.7 trillion for the first phase, the airport will have two runways suitable for Airbus A320, A321 or similar aircraft. The second phase will see an upgrade to increase the airport’s capacity to VND1.5 million passengers and 2,880 tons of good each year by 2030. The upgrade would cost more than VND1 trillion ($42.9 million). Lao Cai has proposed two options for raising the needed capital. In the first, the Ministry of Transport will construct the airport from both government and private funds. The second option is that the province will call for participation from private firms. According to aviation experts, this airport would mainly serve tourists from southern Vietnam and southwestern China. They have cautioned that this inflow would be unstable, when compared to the Van Don airport under construction in northern Quang Ninh province, where the Ha Long Bay and other attractions are located. An airport in Lao Cai should be considered very careful before a decision is made, the experts have advised. Vietnam’s aviation industry has been booming in recent… [Read full story]